The Internet provides an extensive communication network infrastructure allowing the communication of data from a first network location to a second network location. Many different types of communication are possible over the Internet, for example various forms of Voice over IP (VoIP) service, email services and web browser services. In addition, interfaces between the Internet and conventional PSTN telephone networks are becoming increasing prevalent. Each form of communication relies on an associated electronic communications identifier for initiating communication or accessing services. Such an electronic communication identifier acts as a destination name by which a device used by a person can initiate communication. As such any person, whether a real person or a legal entity such as a corporation, may have many different associated electronic communication identifiers. When published electronically, these electronic communication identifiers are each held in a form called a Universal Resource Identifier or URI.
Recently, ICANN approved an application by Telnic Limited, a company incorporated under the law of England and Wales, for a new sponsored Top Level Domain (TLD), that is the .Tel domain. The new .Tel domain facilitates publication of contact information associated with the domain owner. In particular, a domain owner can arrange for publication of electronic communication identifiers within the Domain Name System (DNS). In response to a query asking for a list of contacts associated with a domain name, the system returns a set of Uniform Resource Identifiers that the owner of the domain has chosen for publication. Those querying users can see this text-based electronic communication identifier information associated with the owner of the .Tel domain, and can initiate electronic communications using those identifiers corresponding to whatever communication facilities they have available.
An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism by which access to at least some electronic communication identifiers may be controlled by a domain owner. In other words, a person (whether real or legal) associated with a domain is able to control which electronic communication identifiers are provided based on the identity of the person making the query. In this way, for example, the owner of a .Tel domain can restrict the dissemination of an email address (in a usable form) in order to reduce the number of unwanted messages, commonly referred to as spam messages, received at that email address.